STUDENTS’ UNDERSTANDING ON THE USE OF DEIXIS IN THE JAKARTA POST ADVERTISEMENTS

Abstract

This research deals with the students‟ understanding on the use of deixis that exist in the Jakarta Post advertisements. The students have to find and clarify the types of deixis. The students‟ answers will be used as parameter to identify how far the students comprehend deixis in the advertisement context. Moreover, the researcher is able to take a conclusion from the test‟s result and to determine which types of deixis that mostly cause problems. The significance of this research is the students can be aware about the types of deixis to avoid misconception whenever reading the advertisements. The data are analyzed by using qualitative and quantitative method. The data themselves have three components; participants, questionnaire, and advertisements. The qualitative method is used to analyze and to explain the types of deixis with the interpretation in the advertisements in the Jakarta Post newspaper. While, quantitative method is applied to score the tests‟ result, determining the minimum standard criteria to pass the test and knowing the students‟ proficiency in interpreting the types of deixis. The findings show that from five types of deixis, only four types are commonly used in the advertisements. They are person 48 words (63%), discourse 16 words (21%), time 7 words (9%), and place 5 words (7%). There are only six students who reach higher score and twenty two students get score under the minimum criteria. The person deixis is the types of deixis mostly used in every advertisement. The person deixis is applied because the advertisers attempt to influence the readers by using an interaction. One of the advertisers‟ tactics to influence the readers is by creating a friendly image in their sentences. The other types of deixis function as additional information to support the person deixis. It can be concluded that the students fail to answer the questions because their understandings of deixis are poor. The other factor is most students declare that the language in the Jakarta Post advertisements is difficult. They cannot comprehend the reference of the advertisements. This factor causes the students choose to see the pictures or the symbols rather than reading the content of the advertisements.